1. MEDIA TIMELINE:
ANCILLARY TASKS
Rhiannon Jenkins

2. History of Film Posters

3. History of Film Posters
• The first film poster was created
by Jules Cheret in the late 1800s,
who in the advertising world is
known as “the father of the
modern poster”.
• In 1896, M. Auzolle designed the
poster for the first generally
considered fiction film ever made.
These posters were popular
because their bright colours and
little use of words provided a
means of communication within
advertising that reached the
majority of the illiterate public.

4. History of Film Posters
• By 1900, motion pictures were
rapidly increasing in popularity
throughout Europe and the US which
meant that advertising was needed
to broadcast the release of new
films.
• The film industry had began by
borrowing advertising paper sizes
from other entertainment areas like
Vaudeville, fairs and the circus.
While the sizes that these
entertainment platforms used were
popular, there was a need for much
more specialised material just for
cinematic theatres, which is when
the larger sizes of papers were

5. History of Film Posters
• Edison set the standard size for a movie poster (27” x 41”) which
became known as the “one sheet”; designed to be used in glass
display cases inside and outside film theatres. These posters
depicted the company identity, plot description and the film’s title.
• The one missing component that is hugely evident today was the
names of the films starring actors and actresses. Until the early
1900’s, many chose to remain anonymous as they were
embarrassed to be associated with the new medium of cinema. It
wasn’t until Carl Laemmle managed to steal “Biograph Girl” and
presented her with her real name, Florence Lawrence, to a mass
crowd of adoring fans that film studios realised the real selling
tools of their films were not the films themselves, but the stars. It
was at this point that posters began to be designed with the main
focus reflecting the size and status of the leading actors/actresses.

6. History of Film Posters
• The posters of the 1920’s were amidst the
golden age of silent cinema and with this
came a change within the film posters.
Instead of depicting scenes, they showed
portraits of the starring actors or actresses.
• The 1930’s saw the birth of the “Golden
Age of Movies” , from which emerged
Hollywood musicals, gangster films and the
horror genre. With this, the use of “art deco”
style was applied to film posters, leaving
behind dense backgrounds and introducing
creative placements and sizes of letters and
words as well as using more white space.

7. History of Film Posters
• The look of film posters stayed
relatively similar until the 1960’s, where
after the Great Depression in America
and World War II the social climate
rapidly began to evolve. A lot of the
most popular films in this timeframe
were teen oriented and action movies.
The posters in these years featured full
body or detailed shots of the stars or
the hero of an action film. This is when
the use of photographs slowly began to
replace the painted artwork that was
common up until this point.

8. History of Film Posters
• 70’s film posters were a continuation of the
60’s, where they began to use photographs
more often than illustration to depict the
film’s stars.
• The 70’s became the springboard for the
blockbuster era, with films such as Jaws
breaking previous revenue
records, meaning that more space was
dedicated to the advertisement of film
posters.
• Special effects were born in the 80’s
leading to the success of films like Back to
the Future, ET and Batman.

9. History of Film
• The 1990’s bought the computerisation of
special effects, making them more
realistic than ever and creating believable
creatures and places that are featured on
the films posters. An example of this is
Pixar’s A Bug’s Life which is entirely
made of computer animation.
• CGI is also now widely used in
conjunction with real life cinema in films
such as Avatar, as well as depicting the
CGI alongside the real-life actors on the
film poster.

10. History of Film Magazines

11. History of Film Magazines
• Some of the first film magazines
were born in the early 1900’s such
as The Kinematograph and
Lantern Weekly which focused of
business developments within the
film industry but also provided short
reviews of current films. It is said by
the BFI to be a distant ancestor of
todays Screen International.
• Picturegoer which was established
in 1913 until the 60’s, was one of the
earlier consumer magazines about
film and featured articles such as
“How to get a job in Hollywood”.

12. History of Film Magazines
• One of the only magazines to
remain is Variety, which was first
brought to publication in 1905
and still remains a prominent
platform of entertainment news
today. This magazine originally
covered vaudeville events but as
times changed, so did the
magazine which began to include
features on film and motion
picture. Nowadays, the magazine
exists on an online platform as
well and includes not only film
news, but news from all platforms
of the entertainment world.

13. History of Film Magazines
• A popular current film
magazine is Total Film which
was launched in 1997. It is
available in print magazine as
well as an interactive
website, iPhone app, and
various social media
platforms. The magazine
features a range of
interviews, making-of
pieces, future releases and an
interactive section where
readers send in letters.

14. History of Film Magazines
• The most popular film magazine of today is
Empire, founded in 1989. Their very first
issue featured an article taking readers
through the life and death of Freddy
Kreuger from A Nightmare On Elm Street.
On the right is the front cover of the first
ever issue of Empire, and underneath is the
most recent, showing how the cover has
changed with the times through special
effects, layout and colour scheme.
Regardless of this, the masthead has
remained relatively similar to keep the
continuity of the magazine. Features in
todays magazines include
interviews, reviews, quizzes, blogs and
competitions.